Frat makes boy a bigger man

An action-movie hero and a fraternity brotherhood made a global man of Pierre Towns

Pierre Towns wears his Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity jacket at his Carlsbad home Tuesday in front of a display of the Congressional Gold Medal that his late father Henry Towns received for his service with the Montford Point Marines.
— Bill Wechter

Pierre Towns wears his Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity jacket at his Carlsbad home Tuesday in front of a display of the Congressional Gold Medal that his late father Henry Towns received for his service with the Montford Point Marines.
— Bill Wechter

It may take a village to raise a child, but it took the combined powers of an oddball trio to turn a child of South Central Los Angeles into the globe-trotting, do-gooding Carlsbad businessman that Pierre Towns is today.

First came his Marine Corps-trained father, who passed down the creed of courage, honor and commitment to his son. Then came James Bond, whose movies taught a shy Compton middle-schooler to dress sharp and dream big, international dreams.

Finally, there was the legendary Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, which transformed Towns from a mere UC Riverside student into a force for extreme good. The former Compton kid grew up to work for Monsanto, Arco and DreamWorks, and when he started using his wisdom and influence to help San Diego’s foster youth, giving back paid dividends that Towns still can’t begin to count.

“The fraternity helped me really understand that we are not fully realizing our potential if we’re not serving others,” said Towns, who works with such local groups as Voices for Children and Just in Time for Foster Youth to mentor young people who are aging out of the foster-care system.

“Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, you are always thinking about yourself and how you’re going to survive. In the fraternity, I learned the sheer joy of helping others.”

When the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity was formed in 1911 on the campus of Indiana University, its motto was “Achievement in Every Field of Endeavor.” When Towns founded the Carlsbad-Laguna-Temecula Alumni Chapter of the fraternity in 2009, he saw no reason to mess with success.

Through Just In Time, Voices for Children and the Santa Ana-based Orangewood Children’s Foundation, Towns and his 20-plus CLT alumni members have conducted life-skills workshops, provided free financial and legal advice, and helped their young-adult charges shop for dorm supplies, dress for job interviews and furnish their first homes. The group has donated a combined total of $40,000 to the three organizations, and the members have also been generous with their untold wealth of experience.

“The problem for a lot of these kids is that they don’t believe they are capable of doing things. They move a lot and they fall behind in school, and they have all these discouraging things happen to them,” said the 60-year-old Towns. “Our message to them is that you can overcome your circumstances. Most of our members grew up as at-risk kids, so we’re not that different from them.”

While growing up in Compton meant Towns was always at risk of being stopped by the police or caught in some neighborhood crossfire, he wasn’t without resources. His parents were married, his father had his own automotive-electrical shop, and Towns had the grades and the gumption to follow his jet-setting James Bond dreams.

Through one of his father’s customers, Towns got a summer maintenance job at a Monsanto factory. When he graduated from college in 1975, the company hired him as an assistant personnel and safety supervisor, a gig that took him all the way to Tennessee.

For the next 25-plus years, human-resources positions with Crocker National Bank, Arco, DreamWorks and other corporations took him to Texas, Venezuela, Trinidad and Alaska. And when time and logistics allowed, he volunteered for such charitable organizations as the Urban League, the United Negro College Fund and the Center for Media Literacy.

“Working with at-risk youth, that is always what I have been most passionate about,” said Towns, who now works in human resources for the Room To Read global literacy organization. “My father’s customer reached out to me when I was an at-risk youth, and he helped me realize my dreams. Had he not done that, who knows what would have happened?”

Towns and his wife, Anisa, moved to San Diego in 2000. When Towns got tired of driving from Carlsbad to downtown San Diego for Kappa Alpha Psi alumni meetings, he formed the North Country Chapter. The alumni group’s annual gala will be held April 13 at the Sheraton Carlsbad Resort and Spa. For Towns, the celebration of the Kappa Alpha Psi community spirit goes all year long.

“To see these foster youth blossom and to see them realize that they are capable of achieving more than they thought they could, those experiences are hard to duplicate. When I give to others, I receive a feeling that I don’t receive through anything else I do in my life.”